'Bodies Revealed' revealed

The Bodies Revealed exhibit has broken attendance records at the Da Vinci… (Kevin Mingora, THE MORNING…)

January 26, 2013|By Sam Kennedy, Of The Morning Call

Cheryl Stevenson leaned in close, eyes straining to get a better look at the preserved human cadaver before her. The man's skin had been peeled off, exposing his underlying muscles, tendons and bones, and his body was posed in a sprinter's crouch, testes dangling below his hips.

"Oh my goodness," the Nanticoke resident said, reacting to the Bodies Revealed exhibit that has shattered admissions records at the Da Vinci Science Center in Allentown. "For people to donate their bodies," she continued. "I just can't think of the words."

"Our suppliers have confirmed to us that all of the bodies and organ specimens … came from individuals who chose to donate their bodies to medical science for the purpose of study and education," Da Vinci states on its website.

And yet, whether the Chinese men whose bodies are on display at Da Vinci ever imagined, let alone authorized such a spectacle is unclear. Neither Da Vinci nor the exhibit vendor, Atlanta-based Premier Exhibitions Inc., was able to provide The Morning Call with conclusive documentation of consent. The company's medical expert and lawyer said they have never seen a consent form and have relied on the word of Chinese and Taiwanese partners who are but middlemen in a global body supply chain.

The words "donate," "donated" or "donation" do not appear in the annual report of Premier, a public company whose shares trade on the NASDAQ stock exchange. Rather, the report – referring to Premier's multiple Bodies exhibits worldwide and not specifically to the one at the Da Vinci center – says, "Most of the bodies were unclaimed at death, and were ultimately delivered to medical schools for education and research."

Premier's critics include medical professionals and experts on China who cite the country's notorious human rights record. Their questions have trailed the Bodies exhibits for a decade:

Why are most of the bodies of Chinese men? Were these people Chinese prisoners? Were they executed?

In China, which accounts for half the world's state-sanctioned executions, prisons often serve a different purpose than they do in this country. China's Communist Party-ruled government routinely locks up political opponents, mostly men, such as democracy advocates and ethnic minorities like Tibetans and Uighurs, according to numerous watchdog groups, including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch.

Even if the men whose bodies are on display consented, did they agree to be shown — for example, swinging a golf club, as one body is posed — for commercial purposes in the United States?

"The evidence that there was consent for obtaining these bodies has not really been established. That's the main concern," said Dr. Michael McGuinness, secretary of Pennsylvania's Humanity Gifts Registry, the agency that oversees body donation for teaching purposes at the state's medical and dental schools. "I really think that aspect of consent is important, because these are commercial exhibits, and someone is profiting off this."

The Bodies exhibit at Da Vinci is one of eight such exhibits offered by Premier, which posted revenues of nearly $32 million last year. Five of the exhibits travel from one venue to the next. Three are stationary, such as one at the Luxor hotel and casino in Las Vegas.

Premiere is one of two competing companies in the business of showcasing human remains preserved through a process known as plastination. The other is Body Worlds, which has been featured at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia. Its founder, Gunther von Hagen, is a German who is seldom photographed without his trademark black fedora, and whose pioneering work in plastination has earned him the nickname "Dr. Death."

Both Premiere and Body Worlds say they follow all domestic and foreign laws. Dr. Roy Glover, a former anatomy professor at the University of Michigan Medical School who now works for Premier as chief medical expert, said all of Premier's bodies have been obtained "legally and ethically … We wouldn't support an exhibit if we weren't sure of that."

He said he has personally inspected every body for signs of torture or other foul play and has never found any. "I'm not only protecting the company, but I'm also protecting my reputation, and I look very closely," he said.

Asked if the bodies come from Chinese prisons, he said he didn't know. "But I do not doubt that that might be a possibility," he said, adding, "there's nothing illegal about that, if laws are followed."

Speaking to the exhibit's educational value, Glover said, "I think that's a wonderful way for a body to be used — to enrich public knowledge. It will do innumerable good for the greatest number of people."